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Bad Panda

I don’t think of the United States having particular ‘class’ at sporting events. We paint our entire torsos for the NFL, eat hot dogs and nacho hats at the MLB, and NBA is just NBA. But when I think of soccer in the United Kingdom, I sense a bit of class. Sure, they wear the uniforms and cheer, but I just don’t picture Premier League fans getting wasted with nacho cheese sauce smeared across their face. Plus, they seem so fancy- every team has the own insignia dating back to the very beginning.

St. Mirren FC is a Scottish Championship soccer team with this fancy logo:

Classy, right?

Founded in 1887 in Paisley, Scotland, this team is nicknamed the Saints, which is defined as ‘a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness.’ Well, evidently this does not apply to the mascot of the team.

Paisley the Panda is the main mascot, along with his two sidekicks Junior P and Mrs. Panda. Paisley the Panda was cancelled in 2003 after a few situations, such as:

1. Making fun of the Queen of the South fans with an inflatable sheep.

2. Taunting Falkirk fans about not having a stadium.

3. Gesturing to use an opponent’s jersey as toilet paper.

The police had warned said mascot of his indecent actions, but he didn’t care. He was fired, with people trying to press charges on him for indecent exposure.

Eventually, the mascot came back, with a new suit-person, and he has stayed pretty low profile, instead focusing on cuteness and I guess the soccer-ball-pregnancy of the panda in the middle.